Cruinniuc

In the Ulster Cycle narratives as reported in the supplied sources, Cruinniuc is a wealthy cattle-owner and widower of Ulster. A beautiful woman arrives at his house, sleeps with him, cares for his children, and becomes pregnant without revealing her name. At a later festival Cruinniuc boasts that his wife could run faster than the king's chariot. The king forces the heavily pregnant woman to race his chariot; she wins, gives birth to twins on the finish line, and reveals herself as Macha, daughter of Sainrith mac Imbaith. The city thereafter becomes known as Emain Macha ('Macha's Twins'). After these events Macha lays a curse on the men of Ulster, which is used in the tradition to explain why only Cúchulainn is able to fight in the Táin Bó Cuailnge.

The sources provide no physical description beyond social markers: Cruinniuc is described as a wealthy cattle-owner and a widower. No details are given in the supplied material about height, clothing, facial features, or other bodily particulars.

The supplied sources attribute no supernatural powers to Cruinniuc. His notability in the tradition rests on his social status as a wealthy cattle-owner and on actions of speech and hospitality: he receives the unnamed woman into his household, fathers (or is father to) the children, and utters a boast at a festival that sets the chain of events in motion. He does not cast the curse; the curse is enacted by Macha after the forced race.